Since 2019, UK energy investment firm, Westmount Energy Limited has participated indirectly via its investee companies in the drilling of exploration wells on the Kaieteur, Canje, and Orinduik Blocks. While those efforts have not produced a commercial, standalone discovery, the company recently appealed for its investors to continue to exercise patience as it has every confidence ExxonMobil and Tullow will land on the “sweet spots” soon.
On the Orinduik Block, two wells namely Jethro-1 and Joe-1 were drilled in 2019. Tullow and its partners, including Eco Atlantic, one of the investee companies of Westmount, have not decided the way forward for the wells which unlocked heavy oil.
The first well on the Exxon-operated Kaieteur block, Tanager-1, remains the deepest well drilled in the Guyana-Suriname Basin to date. It was spudded in August 2020. Although high-quality reservoirs were encountered at the deeper Santonian and Turonian intervals, initial interpretation of the reservoir fluids required further analysis, the results of which have yet to be disclosed.
On the Canje concession, which is also operated by Exxon, three wells were drilled namely Bulletwood-1, Jabillo-1, and Sapote-1. None were a commercial success.
While these initial drilling outcomes are below Westmount’s expectations for the portfolio, the company said the results still provide encouragement. It said the results must be viewed in the context of ‘large step-out’ wells that evaluated giant stratigraphic prospects while seeking to establish the perimeter of the multiple Tertiary and Cretaceous play fairways both to the northeast and southwest of the prolific Stabroek block.
The UK firm said, “These results, together with the analysis and synthesis of the extensive well data gathering programmes executed by the respective operators should improve understanding of the plays, reduce sub-surface risk and inform prospect selection for the next round of drilling on the Canje, Kaieteur and Orinduik blocks.”
Westmount said it remains hopeful that the geoscience learning curve combined with the portfolio effect provided by drilling an extended sequence of prospects in this prolific basin will win out over individual prospect risks to yield a commercial discovery.
It further noted that it looks forward to the next drilling campaign across these blocks which are expected to commence as soon as the re-evaluation groundwork has been completed and drilling permits are in place.
Environmental permitting applications, with respect to potential 12 well drilling programs on both the Kaieteur and Canje blocks, have already been submitted by ExxonMobil. They are still under discussion with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
As for Orinduik, Tullow and its partners are expected to target the next exploration well come early 2023.
